MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Driverless cars with Russian software may appear on the Chinese market in 2019, Chinese firms do not have such technologies yet, Olga Uskova, head of the Cognitive Technologies company specializing in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) based on artificial intelligence (AI), told Sputnik.
“They [cars with Russian software] will appear very soon, as early as in 2019, I think. Not only can we compete, the Chinese do not have these technologies, we are exclusive,” Uskova said, when asked when such cars could be expected to enter the Chinese market.
According to Uskova, the company is currently engaged in talks with two large Chinese carmakers interested in fourth-stage ADAS, a sort of “brain” that ensures that driverless vehicles can share the road with other cars.
Chinese companies are still lagging behind in the fields where there is a strong emphasis on fundamental research and advanced mathematics, but given their dynamics, they will reach the necessary level in about 10 years, so there is a window of opportunity that Cognitive Technologies decided to use, the head of the company said.
“We do not have any illusions about becoming China’s favorite company. We understand that these are some sort of local solutions and we take it as an opportunity to earn some money. Besides, we respect them a lot, this is a school of dynamic business for us,” Uskova said.
Cognitive Technologies is planning to open a sales office in China and enter the country’s market with agricultural robotics, AI software that can be installed on any type of agricultural machinery. Uskova said that the company’s strategy advantageously coincided with Beijing’s plans to equip as many farms as possible with robots.
The company has received first contracts that the office will accompany, and is choosing the location from the five provinces where the offers were made.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
